TOMB OF THE BULL KING - Mazes & Minotaurs - Free

TOMB OF THE BULL KINGAuthor’s ForewordThe first adventure ever published for Mazes & Minotaurs was called Tomb of the Bull King. Releasedin early 1973, it was little more than a labyrinth with a deadly Minotaur trying to kill the heroes. Thosewere the days… Despite its virtually nonexistent plot, this first TOBK quickly became a classic – themother of all subsequently published M&M adventures, so to speak.When Olivier and the folks at Legendary Games Studio decided to release a new PDF edition of theRevised Mazes & Minotaurs rules, it seemed like a great idea to reissue this original adventure. Butsince its release some 35 years ago, this simple, straightforward maze-crawl had become SomethingElse : over the years, many magazines and fanzines (including the venerable Griffin) had publishednumerous extensions, additional sections and extra background material for the adventure, and itwould have been a shame not to take adventage of all this great stuff. Of course recycling andreorganizing all those disparate (and often contradictory) bits of high adventure into a single, internallyconsistent scenario would require a hefty amount of work - for which I volunteered. I soon ended upadding my own ideas to the Bull King’s maze, creating an entirely new backstory, adding some majorencounters at the start of the adventure and, of course, expanding the Tomb itself.How long did it take, you ask ? The answer : more than two years. Developing the map, based on theruins of Knossos (the original maze !) and deciding what to use and what to leave out took six months.Writing the first draft took a full year. I remember Olivier’s surprise at the size of the manuscript; theclassic adventure had grown ten times bigger, eventually turning into a 200-page long mega-module.And then came the seemingly endless task of proofreading and editing - including layout, artwork, afew final tweaks here and there (such as the new magician class detailed in the Appendix ) – anothersix months of toil.Two years. Now I know how Hercules felt at the end of the Twelve Labors. But here, at last, is, thenew, entirely revised and expanded version of Tomb of the Bull King. It is still about a big maze and adeadly Minotaur trying to kill the heroes… It is still about danger, glory and magic – and that’s whatclassic RPG adventures are all about.Welcome to the biggest, most perilous Mazes & Minotaurs adventure ever published !CreditsCarlos de la Cruz Morales (October 2008)Prolific Author : Carlos de la Cruz MoralesDespotic Editor : Olivier LegrandHomeric Proofreader : Matthew ReesHeroic Assistant Editor : Andrew TrentEpic Cover Artists : Amanda Sebastián, Sergio “Terrax” de la CruzMythic Interior Artists : Gebeji, Emmanuel Roudier, Pablo Miguel Sanchez, CanadianPitbull and various anonymous artists. Some illustrations copyright © Clipart.com.Protean Cartographer : Tim HartinLoyal Hoplite Playtesters : Sergio de la Cruz, Ricardo Fuente, Kiko, Diego Lázaro, IsraelLópez, Gonzalo de Porras, Pablo Miguel Sánchez, Luis Uceda.Author’s Dedication : To my wife Marisa and my two children, Nadia and Víctor.2